Abstract
It is known that there are some cultural differences in how humans process visual information [e.g., Saiki, et al., 2013]; however, little is known about cultural variation in preferences for display characteristics. While much of perceived display quality is likely based on the fundamental properties of the human visual system (e.g., visual acuity), other display properties, such as color and white point, may differ systematically across cultures. Our study examined preferences for color gamut, white point, and gamma correction. Ten color gamuts, ranging from the standard sRGB area to over 130% NTSC (u'v' space) were simulated by symmetrically shifting all three primaries or just the red or green primaries. Four white points and two gamma values were also tested. The displays were calibrated and characterized at each location to control for variation in ambient lighting and changes in the displays over time. The experiment employed the method of paired comparisons where images of the same scene were presented on two displays positioned side-by-side. Each participant made 178 judgments per image for at least two images. Both real world and abstract images were used as image content. Experiments were conducted in multiple international locations across the globe, with at least twenty subjects from each locale, balanced for gender and including a wide range of ages. In general, people preferred displays with higher color gamut. Preferences for white point and gamma correction appear to be more susceptible to cultural influences. Interestingly, the variability in preferences differed, with more variability from Asian subjects. Image content also significantly impacted preference: preferences increased more systematically with real world images than abstract images. Previous work on image quality has also found a dependence on image content, which accounted for greater variability than the cultural differences [Fernandez, et al., 2005; Jun, et al., 2002].
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2014